The first song finds the band balancing out the varied elements of their discography, right down to the deliberate chug the song transitions into. Having made their way onto the rock festival circuit, you had to wonder how much playing with big mainstream bands would influence them. Truth be told, when I saw them at Rockville, there was little compromise on their part to win anybody over. 6 albums into their career, I think it is safe to say if they were going to sell out, they would have by now. "Magnolia" is one of the songs I heard before the album's release, and it fits well within the context of the bigger picture here. The more deliberate head-banging riffs are cool.
"the Garden Route" follows more closely to the "Sunbather" formula, where they take a more sheogazing track, and George snarls over it. There is a great range of guitar tones on this album, and the production is not too different from what we have heard in the past, though the vocals feel like they are sitting further back in the mix at times. "Heathen' finds George's singing voice continuing to improve. It's a more breezy indie rock song that skirts along the dusk, before exploding into the black metal dynamic. "Amethyst" unfolds more like a shimmering post-rock lullaby. At over eight minutes, it's the album's longest song, giving them time to lull you into a trance before the screaming starts two minutes into things. The guitars are well layered to add intensity without having to dig into the bag of metal chugs. They are sonically dense in a very graceful manner here.
They hurtle in a more traditional take on black metal with "Revelator". There is still a distinct sonic edge. The main riff is pretty hooky. The last two minutes take an unexpected turn, which the resistance to formulas might be one of this album's most endearing strengths, alongside the dynamics they delve into. The most interesting song might be "Body Behavior," which grooves with a post-punk tension, and his vocals are snarled but in a more punk fashion. Their experimentation with sounds really pays off on this one. It does build up into more of a blasting storm than you might expect from them. Of the three "Incidental" interludes the second one with Jae Matthews from Boy Harsher is the most like a song, and the best of the three, which might surprise some of you since Paul Banks of Interpol is on the third one, but it's more of a spoken word over ambience.
This sets you up for "Winona," that is another song which finds their more experimental nature in the studio paying off again. This entire album sounds great, but some moments are more stunning than others. When this song kicks in it sounds fucking hug, and if you are not already a believer of Daniel Tracy his drumming on this song will make you one. They take you back closer to a more "Sunbather' sound midway into things here. The last song serves as a fitting summary of what they are about on this album, with the sung vocals being used in a less formulaic manner than how most bands employ them these days.I will give this album a 10 might be their most diverse and adventurous album yet.
6
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